Recent Advancements in Biological Conversion of Industrial Hemp for Biofuel and Value-Added Products

Abstract

Sustainable, economically feasible, and green resources for energy and chemical products have people’s attention due to global energy demand and environmental issues. Last several decades, diverse lignocellulosic biomass has been studied for the production of biofuels and biochemicals. Industrial hemp has great market potential with its versatile applications. With the increase of the hemp-related markets with hemp seed, hemp oil, and fiber, the importance of hemp biomass utilization has also been emphasized in recent studies. Biological conversions of industrial hemp into bioethanol and other biochemicals have been introduced to address the aforementioned energy and environmental challenges. Its high cellulose content and the increased production because of the demand for cannabidiol oil and hempseed products make it a promising future bioenergy and biochemical source. Effective valorization of the underutilized hemp biomass can also improve the cost-competitiveness of hemp products. This manuscript reviews recent biological conversion strategies for industrial hemp and its characteristics. Current understanding of the industrial hemp properties and applied conversion technologies are briefly summarized. In addition, challenges and future perspectives of the biological conversion with industrial hemp are discussed.

Bioethanol Production from Enzymatic Hydrolyzates of Pretreated Flaxseed Meals by Baker’s Yeast

“…However, no literature on aqueous, acid, and alkali pretreatment of flaxseed meal were found. Similar results have been reported by Ji et al, who observed that the cellulose content (72.4%) of acid pretreated hemp biomass was increased than untreated hemp biomass [48]. According to Qi et al, chemical pretreatment of bamboo using acid and alkali exhibited the highest cellulose content and lowest lignin and extractive content [49].…”

Effect of lignin-blocking agent on enzyme hydrolysis of acid pretreated hemp waste

“…Hemp biomass is primarily composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin with ash and extractives. 8 High polysaccharide (30–50% of cellulose and 10–20% of hemicellulose) contents in hemp plants are comparable to those in other herbaceous or woody plants. A comparison of hemp with common lignocellulosic biomass types is summarized in Table 1A .…”

Low Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) Energy Crops to Bioenergy and Biofuels—A Review

“…The chemical composition of the different herbaceous and oilseed crops is presented in Table 1, for easier comparison between them. (2)(3)(4), palmitic (4-7), linoleic (35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40), oleic (25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40), and α-linolenic ] Miscanthus × giganteus [6,29] ( As can be seen in Table 1, species such as cardoon and linseed have the potential for biodiesel production since oil can be obtained from the seeds. Another species that also has this characteristic, despite not being specified in the table, is hemp, as oil can also be obtained from the seed.…”